It is important to provide excellent hoof care to cows because lame cows can go from bad to worse quickly. If a lame cow has to wait to be treated, she can experience longer recovery time and more necrotic tissue and permanent damage to her pedal bone. In addition, cows can experience loss of body condition, a dip in milk production, more days open and become chronically lame (never return to normal gait). If the claws become infected, it results in deep digital sepsis, which is not easily reversible. If the disease continues to progress, it is more likely the animal needs to be culled prematurely and, in some cases, euthanized.
Treating lame cows in between trimmer visits
To make treatment of lame cows possible in between trimmer visits, farms should have a dedicated space for hoof trimming. No matter the size of the dairy, there needs to be a way to treat lame cows onsite. It is important to make sure that all hoof care equipment on the farm is safe for the worker and the cow.
When it comes to hoof care on the farm, efficiency is key. It is important to make it easy to sort the cow and direct her to the hoof-trimming chute. It is ideal to have a narrow lane to move the cow into the chute. It works best to have a lane with one solid wall and one wall open so the cow can see the employee and allow the employee to easily move the cow into the chute. Sorting lame cows after milking is often the best way to sort the cow with low stress. The hoof-trimming area should be located near the milking area, so it is easy to move the lame cow from the milking parlor to the hoof care area.
The hoof trimming setup must be practical and easy to use; otherwise, hoof care will be an intimidating task. The hoof trimming area needs to be well organized and stocked with the correct tools and supplies to save time.
Essential hoof care items include:
- Sharp hoof knives
- Hoof knife sharpener
- Power rasp
- Synthetic gauze and wraps
- Glue and blocks
- Disinfectants for lesions (1% to 2% iodine)
- Antibiotics for foot rot
Chute for farms that will be doing hoof care on a regular basis. Photo provided by Lee Erickson.
Who should train the farm employees on how to treat the lame cow?
The contract trimmer can show employees how to perform basic therapeutic hoof care, like how to apply blocks. If employees are not given basic training by the contract trimmer on how to glue on blocks, many blocks will fall off, the employees will become frustrated and the lame cows will not improve. To prevent this, the key is to keep it simple and only use blocks and glues that are user-friendly for the farm employees.
Applying a block to the healthy claw will take the weight off the bad, diseased claw and prevent further damage. The first step is to remove loose hoof around the lesion so there is no more pinching of the soft tissue, and to ensure there are no hard edges around hoof lesions. The hoof needs to be trimmed down until it is soft, about 1 inch around the lesion.
Cows that have been blocked for a claw horn lesion have special needs:
- They should be kept in a pen close to the milking parlor.
- They should be kept in a pen where there is no overcrowding to ensure a rapid recovery.
- They should be kept in a comfortable, well-maintained stall.
Cows treated with claw horn lesions by the farm staff should be seen again by the contracted hoof trimmer to ensure proper recovery. If no one does a follow-up on a lame cow that received a block, how do we know the cow recovered? Claw horn lesions should be fully recovered by four to five weeks after treatment, if not earlier.
Focus on the future: Preventing future lame cows
To prevent lameness, we can use data to determine specific patterns of cows becoming lame between hoof trims or visits. Every case of lameness happens for a reason, and if we don’t investigate and find the cause, lameness will happen repeatedly. It is critical to look at the history or reason why lameness has occurred and ask these questions:
- Which cows are becoming lame between the hoof-trimming visits?
- Are the cows becoming lame between visits cows that were just trimmed?
- Are cows lame because they were treated by the hoof trimmer and did not recover?
- Are cows becoming lame because of too much time between preventive trimmings?
- Are cows that have a history of lameness being trimmed more frequently?
- Are blocks staying on until the cow recovers completely?
All lame cows need to be treated within 24 hours, and at times, the only option is to have farm employees intervene. Therefore, it is necessary that the farm team has the proper training to carry out this responsibility. Once they have received basic lame cow treatment training, there needs to be a set time of the day to give treatment to make sure cows are treated within 24 hours of an issue occurring.
If everyone on the team works together, we can make the dairy a great place for cow well-being.
